Fitbit can count steps on a treadmill. It comes with an in-built Treadmill mode onboard to track treadmill activities. But unfortunately, only high-end Fitbit smartwatches can count steps on a treadmill and provide an accurate readout and analysis.
Fitbit is among the top-wearable manufacturers that offer the most advanced fitness tracking sensors and software when it comes to fitness tracking.
Most Fitbit wears have dedicated treadmill modes for tracking indoor workouts automatically. It can provide your speed, distance covered, heart rate weight, body mass index, and calories burned data results on the treadmill.
But the data and analysis results on a treadmill will only be accurate if you calibrate Fitbit with the treadmill. Well, continue to find out more because this article will provide you with detailed information on how Fitbit tracks and how to use it on the treadmill.
How Fitbit Tracks Walking or Running on Treadmill?
Fitbit wearable can effectively track when you walk or run on the treadmill because it is equipped with an advanced and powerful accelerometer, pedometer, and sensors. These sensors can track when you walk or run on the treadmill by observing your footsteps and hand movements.
However, high-end Fitbits come with a powerful pedometer, making them far more accurate on the treadmill.
More importantly, if you want to get accurate treadmill results, we strongly recommend and adhere to the following tips:
- Always turn on the Treadmill mode on your Fitbit for the accelerometer, pedometer, and sensors to track your treadmill activities and provide accurate results. There is a significant difference between walking and running on the treadmill and the ground.
- Always make sure you move your hands normally while running or walking on a treadmill.
- Do not hold your hands on the bar while walking or running on a treadmill. Holding your hands on the bar will deprive the Fitbit wearable of detecting your footsteps and hand movements.
- Frequently calibrate your Fitbit wearable with the treadmill.
- Always wear your Fitbit wearable on your non-dominant hand. Wearing Fitbit on your dominant hand will provide inaccurate treadmill results. Our dominant hand moves more frequently than the non-dominant hand, and thus, Fitbit will record all these movements as steps.
- Change your stride lengths while on the treadmill to get the most accurate distance you ran or walked.
Your Fitbit will measure any workout on the treadmill and produce more precise reading and accurate analysis with these tips in mind. Working out on the treadmill without adhering to the above tips, Fitbit will only track calories burned and speed.
How to Connect Fitbit to Treadmill?
Now you understand how Fitbit wearables work on a treadmill to provide a more precise and accurate reading. Before you start working out on the treadmill, the first step is to connect Fitbit to Treadmill mode.
Don’t worry because the connecting process is pretty straightforward with the Fitbit app.
- To connect Fitbit to a treadmill, Open the Fitbit app > Setup Section > Exercise shortcut section > Select the Treadmill as your Exercise Mode.
Nonetheless, you can also add a treadmill to your primary dial as a widget to facilitate access to treadmill mode. Still, most Fitbit wearables can automatically track the treadmill, but you have to connect it manually to make sure it works instead of assuming.
After connecting, calibrate treadmill steps with Fitbit to get a more precise reading.
How to Calibrate Fitbit with Treadmill Steps? (StepWise)
Calibrating Fitbit with treadmill steps is vital to help you get an accurate reading from your Fitbit wearable. Besides, with more precise reading, you will know the accurate distance covered at what speed and time, including the number of calories burned during the session.
To customize your treadmill step with Fitbit, follow the guide below.
Step 1: Open the Fitbit app.
Step 2: Scroll to the bottom of your screen and tap the Today’s Tab.
Step 3: Tap your Profile image to enter Account Settings.
Step 4: Then, scroll down and tap Advanced Settings.
Step 5: Scroll down to the bottom and tap Stride length.
Step 6: Select which workout {running or walking} you want to calibrate treadmill steps with Fitbit.
However, before you feed the stride length adjustment, ensure you get the correct stride length. To come up with the correct stride length:
- Go to the track you are sure of the distance or in the yard and mark using chalk.
- Count your steps as you walk across that track or distance.
- Then travel at least 20 or 30 steps.
- Measure the total distance in feet and divide by the number of steps to get your stride length.
The stride length you get from the above calculation will help Fitbit’s Treadmill mode measure and provide accurate information on whether you walk or run on the treadmill.
Without calibrating your steps with the Fitbit wearable, it will provide under or over-reported results, which are unreliable if you want to track your progress.
Suppose you are an athlete using Fitbit wearable as your fitness tracker. In that case, you must calibrate your steps with Fitbit for maximum chances of getting accurate results, same as the treadmill result.
Best Fitbit Fitness Trackers for Indoor Workout
When looking for the best Fitbit fitness tracker for an indoor workout, you should check the following features. They include:
- If it has a dedicated treadmill mode.
- Dedicated auto-activity detection.
- If it is compatible with mobile and web apps. It helps top fine-tune your activities and get accurate reviews and analyses.
- Step count.
- Built-in GPS onboard. This feature is not necessary for an indoor workout but essential for an outdoor workout for mapping your walking, hiking, and running.
Many Fitbit wearables are effective in fitness tracking, but unfortunately, few have Treadmill mode, which can effectively and accurately track your indoor workout. They include:
Best Fitbit Fitness Trackers for Indoor Workout
Fitbit Versa 2
Fitbit Versa 3
Fitbit Versa 4 (Upcoming)
Fitbit Sense
Fitbit Luxe
Fitbit Charge 3
Wrapping Up
Fitbit can count steps on a treadmill effectively and provide accurate information only if you calibrate your steps with Fitbit.
Secondly, you should also adhere to the tips we have shared above to help Fitbit seamlessly count your steps, whether you are walking or running on the treadmill.
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